Am I really about to whine about Facebook?

Yep.

Cabinet Crisis!

My “pantry” cabinet has been overwhelming me for a while.  It was really, really bad.  Observe:

WHITE HAIR!!!

I had one!  I was so excited that I had to pull it out and examine it.  I would love a headful of snow white hair.  It’s been one of my life-long dreams.  Hopefully it comes back white and not gray.

Bread with your soups!

So now that I know we will be eating soup for weeks, I figured I’d throw my husband a bone and make some bread to dip or eat along with all of this soup.  Because we’re eating it.  No mercy.

I have a little experience making my own bread.  I have been using a recipe for honey-wheat bread, but this “light wheat” recipe is much awesomer in my opinion.  I had to halve it, though, because that lady was crazycakes.

I took A LOT of pictures, and plan to explain each step.  Forgive my wordiness, but it’s for people confounded by homemade bread.  It’s really not so bad.  There is very little hands-on time…. mostly just waiting.  PERFECT for those of us with short attention spans or those of us with little kids that need to be redirected every 15 minutes.

Blog confusion

I am keeping 2 blogs because I can’t decide which I like better. I really like WordPress and especially the ability to make posts private. ALSO: This used to be cthylla.wordpress.com. Now it is https://tentacledmonotony.wordpress.com.

I also really like the way my Blogger looks and I am shallow like that. That URL is http://tentacledmonotony.blogspot.com/

Also, someone warned me that Blogger likes to randomly delete blogs. So in any event, it can’t hurt to have posts going on both pages. Follow whichever one you like better. =)

Hippie shit & roller derby

So I am reading this book, “The Power of Now.” I am only up to chapter 3. There is a lot of mumbojumbo, and I am having a hard time sticking with it, but I’m committed. I like the idea of it, even if I can’t get over the vision of the author wearing lots of beads and flowy clothes. And burning a lot of incense.

Obviously, I don’t have much to report yet, but so far, it points out to separate “you” from your ever-chattering mind. To observe your thought processes as an outside entity… sort of interesting. “Negativity” counts as mind-chatter, and you are encouraged to quickly note a sudden turn of misery or moodiness. As a bystander, it’s a little easier to get to the root of things. I realize that made no sense, but like I said, I only read 2 chapters. Maybe my beads and flowy clothes still need to be earned.

Fragrance Oil Finder Website!!!

I stumbled across this today, and am DELIGHTED with it!!

The way I found if was sort of through a spiteful internet search.  You see- an Etsy seller sold a soap with a fragrance oil that was DIVINE.  I have been messing around with making shampoo, and I wanted to use this fragrance to scent the shampoo.

I contacted her, let her know that I wanted to replicate that smell for my hair, and asked if she would mind sharing it with me.  I sort of half-expected a NO, but what I got was not only a NO, but also a little rant about how I was trying to steal her product scent.  Yes, really.  She also went on and on about how she spent months perfecting the scent through blends of fragrance oils.

A little deflated, but also a little annoyed… I had a hunch that not only WAS it a single fragrance oil… but she was dumb enough to copy & paste the exact description of the fragrance oil directly from the product website.  I copied a snippet of it…. googled, and beheld the website below:

http://www.fragranceoilfinder.com/catalog/index.php

It told me EXACTLY where the fragrance oil was sold… and she did indeed copy & paste the entire description.  Teehee!

Okay, fine.  I guess you can make arguments to support her case.  But she didn’t need to outright LIE about it.  A simple, “I’m sorry, but I would rather not share” would suffice.  Further, if you are that concerned with secrecy…. WRITE YOUR OWN DESCRIPTIONS.

That’s all.  I win.  =)

Why I dumped Springpad

When I found Springpad, I was all about it.  I liked the graphic “post it note” way they dispayed Notebooks.  Yeah, Evernote technically has the same functionality, but I’m very MEH about it.

Also, at least 5 times now, I have edited a note online via my computer just to have NONE OF IT SAVED.  Freaking stupid.  I’ve lost hours of work.  And no, I wasn’t doing anything stupid like simultaneously messing with the phone app.  Yesterday, I added a line to a note via phone app, saved it, and it was already missing when I checked my phone a second later.  WTF.

The last nail in the coffin is trying to log on to access all my stuff…and the site is down for maintenance.  At noon on a workday?  REALLY?  Pretty colors may factor into about 85% of my decision making processes, but in this case I’m sticking with Evernote.

Get your shit together, Springpad.

UPDATE:  Springpad continues to woo me.

Deep into soap details

Prepare to be bored to tears.  You have been warned.

SO I posted pictures of the rose soap on a soap forum and asked what was up with the “halo” I saw in the middle.  They said it was done- it’s just a cosmetic issue, but the halo was due to a “partial gel.”  Basically, saphonification generates a lot of heat.  But because my house is so cold, it could not quite get hot enough to “gel” the entire soap.  They suggested soaping at hotter temperatures, putting the poured soap in the oven on 170 for an hour…or wrapping the soap in towels to insulate it.

The OTHER solution is to try to completely avoid gel.  I tried to do this tonight.  I soaped at 95 degrees….and then popped the soap mold into the freezer.  I think I will leave it in there overnight, then transfer it to the cool closet to harden for a few days.   Below is a comparison photo- these soaps were made using the same recipe….but the left soap was gelled, and the right soap was not.  I like the right one better!

Left gelled, right did not gel.

Some additional pics for funz.

Altered set up...I'm getting pro.

Laser thermometers are fierce.

OMG these traced fast once mixed.

I hope this works!

Greatness.

Cabbage Patch Kid Rescue (Part 3 of 3)

Alllll done!  Don’t they look nice?  I bought the Spanish CPK outfit from eBay… and the purple one from Etsy.  Somehow, they only look right in their original outfits, though.  I also bought a lot of shoes from eBay…so I’ll get them on as soon as they arrive.

Trimming the fuzzies off the hair was a huge pain in the ass, but it REALLY made a difference.  I highly recommend it.  Here’s close-ups of the gals with hair:

Sweet!  So now where am I supposed to put them?